Food Forestry

When CJ Andrews first stepped on the property she would later buy in Valley Center, it looked staggeringly neglected.

Between avocado, citrus, pecan, and Peruvian pepper trees stood massive weeds—some as tall as the trees themselves—which hadn’t been watered, pruned, or cared for in years. Despite the neglected state of the orchard and an avocado expert saying many of the avocado trees would never again bear fruit, Andrews saw the land’s potential.

“Luckily I'm a visionary because the property was a mess,” she said. After two years of pulling weeds, revitalizing the soil, and introducing companion plants, her Avocado Bliss Retreat looks transformed.

She renovated the house and barn on the property to create short-term rental spaces for those who want to host retreats and other events on the farm. Following a county efficiency test on the farm’s irrigation system, Andrews and her gardener repaired it to ensure all the trees receive adequate water.

“Maybe a dozen trees had a healthy crop the first summer,” Andrews said. “This year we had a lot more avocados and a lot more healthy and flavorful fruit. And the crop coming in for next year is incredible.”

San Diego County has more than 5,000 farms, which is more than any other county across the nation, according to a University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources report. Fruits and nuts account for 17% of farmland harvested in the county, and crops grown on trees—namely avocados, lemons, and oranges—accounted for three out of the top 10 crops in 2022, a San Diego County Agriculture, Weights, and Measures (AWM) report shows.

AWM data shows that apples, avocados, citrus, and persimmons accounted for 88.5% of all harvested acres of fruits and nuts throughout the county in 2022. An additional 5.63% of crops in the category are classified as nuts and other fruits.

The report also states that San Diego is the top county in California for organic producers and has the second-largest value of harvested avocados behind Ventura County.

Orchards throughout the region are home to thousands of trees growing everything from citrus to apples, bananas, dates, elderberries, and stone fruits.

‍

The region is also home to some of the first coffee farms in the continental United States, like the 18-acre Mraz Family Farms in Oceanside, owned by Grammy-winning musician Jason Mraz.

Many of the varieties of food-bearing trees in the region have been imported from elsewhere in the world, such as Sorrento lemons from Italy, figs from Turkey, almonds from Southwestern Asia, and coffee from Ethiopia.

When Linda Zaiser and her late husband Bill purchased the 43-acre plot of land they built their farm on in 1980, they started growing fruits for community members who couldn’t find what they wanted locally.

“We really worked hard on procuring trees that nobody else had,” said Linda Zaiser, owner of Rancho Del Sol Organics in Jamul. “I have the Italian Sorrento lemons, and I'm one of the only ones in the United States that has those.”

The farm was certified organic in 1993 and produces a variety of fruits including pomegranates, mandarins, finger limes, and Buddha’s hands.

‍

Indigenous use and stewardship of native tree species

While many food-bearing trees growing today in San Diego County originated in other parts of the world, trees have long provided nourishment and medicine to the Indigenous communities of the region.

For more than 10,000 years—long before Spanish missionaries and American settlers colonized the border region—the Cahuilla, Cupeño, Luiseño, and Kumeyaay people have been stewards of the land in present-day San Diego and its native trees.

Late spring brings the harvest of elderberry flowers, followed by elderberries and pine nuts in the summer. Autumn is the time when community members gather to collect and process acorns.

“The elders will go before the rest of us, and they decide when we can pick the acorns,” said Ruth-Ann Thorn from the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians. “The first droppings of the acorns go to our animal relatives, and they get first pick. Then we get to go.”

San Diego is home to two varieties of oak trees producing different types of acorns, said Juan Nemuuly Reynoso, a member of the San Pasqual Band of Kumeyaay Indians. While the coastal California live oak produces smaller, more acidic acorns, the black oak trees in higher elevation places like Cuyamaca produce larger, sweeter acorns.

Once the kwila or shawii—the word for acorns in Luiseño and Kumeyaay, respectively—are collected, they need to be processed before consumption.

To reduce the tannins and make their nutrients more bioavailable,
acorns are first leached in room temperature water.

“It is very bitter if you're not taking the time to curate it and really clean it out,” said Reynoso, who started learning about the traditions of gathering acorns as a kid during culture lessons from elders on his reservation.

After the tannins are leached out, the acorns are ground by hand into a flour that can be used in a traditional porridge wiiwish, also known as shawii. The Kumeyaay used matates, grinding stone indentations akin to mortar and pestles in bedrock that can still be found in places like Mission Trails Regional Park.

“A lot of people think that those matates are predominantly used just for nuts and harder materials,” Reynoso said. “But actually, there's been some studies to see the carbon imprints of some of those stones, and they've also found that there has been animal by-product in those spaces.”

Underground communication

When walking through an orchard, it’s easy to become captivated by the beautifully fragrant flowers or plump fruits adorning the trees. But in order for each piece of fruit to thrive, there is a complex symphony working in tandem underground.

Tree roots, which anchor and support growth, radiate like a vascular system absorbing water and nutrients. Irrigation and drainage systems ensure trees get a sufficient amount of moisture without becoming waterlogged.

Most importantly, there’s an entire ecosystem made up of mycorrhizal fungi, nitrogen-fixing bacteria helping plants access nitrogen, worms, and other insects that the health and productivity of an orchard depend on.

According to the National Forest Foundation, mycelium are the tiny fungi threads wrapping around tree roots as part of the mycorrhizal network that allow individual trees to transfer nitrogen, carbon, water, and other minerals to one another.

Given the positive impact a healthy mycelium network can have on trees, Andrews took steps to encourage its growth. She spread wood mulch between the trees on her property to prevent a resurgence of weeds without using harsh chemicals and to encourage the growth of fungi that grow in decomposing wood.

“I think it's really important for that kind of intelligence to be working around the property because the Earth is a lot smarter than we know,” Andrews said.

Where to buy fresh fruits and nuts from San Diego

“It’s really nice to be able to provide this opportunity for families and people to come and be out in the sunshine, be amongst all of the beauty out here, to taste how much better it is, and just give them an appreciation for nature.” —Christin Roscoe

Visiting one of San Diego County’s certified farmers’ markets is one of the best ways to find fruits and nuts grown by orchards in California.

Some locally grown fruits can be found in grocery stores like Specialty Produce in Mission Hills and Jimbo’s Naturally. They often sell fruit from Rancho del Sol in Jamul, which also ships 10- and 15-pound boxes of their seasonal fruits.

Other farmers allow guests to pick fruits from the trees during harvest season, or they sell CSA-style produce boxes that can be picked up directly on the farm. Ramona Fresh Fruits, also known as Shoemaker’s Farm, is co-owned by Christin Roscoe and her father Ed Shoemaker and opens for persimmon picking every fall.

“It's really nice to be able to provide this opportunity for families and people to come and be out in the sunshine, be amongst all of the beauty out here, to taste how much better it is, and just give them an appreciation for nature,” Roscoe said.

Soon there may also be an acorn protein-based nutritional shake available for sale. Thorn, who uses oil from acorns harvested at Palomar Mountain and on tribal lands in Northern California in her N8iV Beauty skincare products, said the protein powder is still under development before going through the FDA approval process, but it might be available as early as next year.

Studies have shown that consuming acorns may help reduce symptoms of diabetes and the risk of cardiovascular disease, which Thorn said inspired her, in part, to develop a nutritional shake made with them as an ingredient.

“Acorn is tried-and-true because it's been used for thousands of years for health for people, for sustenance,” she said. “I thought it would be worthwhile to create something that was a benefit to people, and acorns are readily available.”

Growing the canopy

As part of the Climate Action Plan, the county aims to plant 70,560 trees by 2030, adding another 6,650 trees per year on county property and in unincorporated parts of the region. In doing so, officials hope to have a positive impact on climate change by reducing urban heat island effect, greenhouse gas emissions, and energy consumption. Fruit and nut trees also increase the canopy of tree coverage with the added benefit of providing food to community members.

The initiative to increase the region’s tree canopy is also being taken on by San Diego Gas & Electric through efforts like the Healthy Communities Fruit Tree Program. They are working in partnership with Healthy Day Partners, a nonprofit based in North County that aims to “empower food insecure children, seniors, active military, veterans, and marginalized populations to grow their own food.” Through the program, eligible schools and community gardens can apply to receive fruit trees and grant funding to benefit their communities, said Morgan Justice, community relations manager supervisor at SDG&E. To date, the partners have collaborated to plant more than 200 trees on 20 sites throughout the region.

“This program is not intended to be quantitative. It's much more qualitative in terms of providing quality trees that are going to last a long time and provide benefits to those students or residents,” Justice said. “We're forging relationships, getting people excited about growing their own food, and connecting them to resources that might allow them to continue this journey.”

San Diego County residents have benefited from abundant fruit-bearing trees for millennia. Today, we can grow or purchase tree fruit from local producers and enjoy diverse, dense nutrition while helping trees fix carbon and support living soils and biodiversity.

‍